One by One
by icyvampirequeen
Summary: Bella has always wanted to be popular. At last she has made it to the 'in' crowd. This trip will be one to remember - if she lives that long...
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter one**

_So this was it. This was how it was supposed to end. The way it had been planned right from the start. The two of us, killer and victim. Final victim. Victim number six._

_For a brief moment we said nothing. We simply stared into each other's eyes. What were we looking for? A reprieve from death? An explanation? Forgiveness?_

_But what can a victim say to change a murderer's mind? What argument is strong enough to stop a killing machine?_

_And why should a murderer try to explain why it was necessary to kill five – soon to be six – people? For forgiveness?_

_Do you need forgiveness when you've committed the perfect crime, or is that only for those who will get caught?_

_This murderer would not get caught…_

* * *

><p><em>There were seven of us when we started out.<em>

_Someone – I think it was Edward – said that seven was a magic number. That magicians – real magicians like Merlin, the wizard, not the ones who pull rabbits out of hats – had always believed it was a powerful number. One that protected from harm. Pfft. Some magic._

_But then, we didn't stay seven for long. One by one the group grew smaller. And finally there were only two of us._

_Two is not a magical number. When one of the two is a murderer._

_But in the beginning there were seven. Six were long-standing members of the elite 'in' group of Forks High. True aristocrats, as high school royalty goes._

_And then there was me._

_I was the newcomer. The one who wanted to be a part of the inner circle. To sit at the special table in the school cafeteria. To be envied because I ran around with the football heroes and the best-looking and most popular girls on campus._

_And so I was one of the seven, the special, selected seven, that made the trip to Eclipse Island._

_I paid a high price to become one of that group. I would live to regret it. But at the time, I thought it was a price well worth paying._

_I was wrong._

_I was dead wrong._

**If you like the sound of this chapter, postings should be every fortnight. Please review and let me know your thoughts. x**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two**

"This place is a dump!" Rosalie said, standing in the doorway of the youth hostel.

She struck an imaginary pose, one hand on her hip and the other waving an imaginary cigarette. "What an unbelievable dump!"

She was doing her Bette Davis routine. I'd seen it many times. It wasn't all that good, but who was I to criticize the queen of Fork's High?

Every high school must have its reigning beauty, just as every wolf pack needs a leader. And that's what Rosalie Hale was. Queen. Leader. Golden-haired goddess. She ruled the best, the most exclusive clique in school. The one everyone wanted to be a part of, but which included only the prettiest, most popular girls, like Rosalie and Jessica Stanley and Angela Weber.

And me. I was in the group now. Lucky me.

_Are you proud, Jake? I'm doing it only for you. You always used to say that living well was the best revenge. I miss you, Jake._

Jessica Stanley pushed me aside in her eagerness to follow Rosalie into the lounge of the hostel. She always seemed to hang onto Rosalie's coattails. Maybe she figured some of Rose's glitter would rub off on her if she stood close enough.

"It's not that bad, Rose," she said. "We're only going to be here for one night before we leave for Eclipse Island anyway."

The hostel was a two-storey wooden building. It was unpainted, both inside and out, and the boards had turned a silvery grey with age. It was built in a simple rectangular shape, like an old army barracks, and looked as if it had been here, at the head of the river, for a very long time.

A small private college owned the hostel and rented it out to school groups and hiking and canoeing clubs. From the looks of things, we were the first – and only – group to stay there this season. I could see a thick layer of dust on the stairs leading to the top floor, and some of last fall's leaves that had blown in from the porch still littered the foyer, in front of the check-in desk.

There was no clerk or receptionist at the desk. A large sign, propped against the wall, told us where to find the caretaker and urged us to leave the building as clean as we found it.

That wouldn't be hard, I thought. Even my room at home is cleaner than this.

Rosalie was right. It really _was _a dump.

In the lounge Jessica plunked her cosmetic case down on a vinyl-upholstered chair that had a large rip in the seat. I could hear all her make-up bottles rattle and clink.

Naturally Jessica _would _ have to bring a bag full of cosmetics on a week-long trip into the woods. God forbid she be caught without her pink glitter eye shadow.

Jessica was as gorgeous in a brunette, dark-eyed way as Rosalie was stunningly blonde. You had to be good-looking to run in this crowd. I know. It took a major make-over – hair, wardrobe, body, contacts – for me to make the grade.

But for all her looks and charm, there was a streak of bitchiness in Jessica that lay, only barely submerged, just beneath the surface.

Somewhere, somehow, I'd offended her. Maybe it was because my dad was the chief of police in Forks and had cautioned her a couple of times over under-age drinking, or maybe it was because my family was reasonably wealthy, unlike hers. Or maybe because, although I was basically a 'geek', I'd managed to crack the inner sanctum, the holy of holies, the 'in' group.

I always had to be on my guard against Jessica. The girl must lie awake nights thinking of ways to dump on me. And the worst part of it was that she always caught me by surprise. I'd always promise myself the next time she said something bitchy, I'd be waiting for her with the perfect reply – something witty and cool. Something that would make her think twice before messing with me. But it never happened. She'd say something bitchy, and while I was trying to figure out a perfect comeback, she'd give me that smug smile of hers, and I'd know she'd beat me again.

I heard heavy footsteps on the porch and turned to see Emmett McCarty stagger through the door, loaded down with a bulging backpack and a huge ice chest containing some of the perishable food we would be needing for our week of roughing it on the island.

It was a heavy load, but Emmett had the muscles to carry it.

Over six feet tall and ruggedly handsome with dimples that made every girl swoon, Emmett was, without a doubt, the most popular guy at Forks High. He was captain of the football team, president of the student government and all around nice guy. All those assets, of course, made him the perfect partner for Rosalie Hale.

I didn't think Rosalie was as crazy about Emmett like he was about her. Rosalie was a junior, as I was, but Emmett would be graduating next year. I had asked her once what she would do next year with him off at college. Would she miss him?

She had just laughed. "I'm sure I'll find somebody to help me pass away the lonely hours, Bella," she'd said. "You know that saying – 'men are like buses, there is always another round the corner'."

"Where do you want all this stuff, Rosalie?" Emmett asked. "We'll be loading it in the canoes tomorrow morning."

"Mr and Mrs Banner haven't gotten here yet," she told him. "Let's just put everything in the middle of the room and sort it out later."

"Are you sure we brought enough food?" Angela Weber asked. Angela was a tall, sandy-haired jockette. Although she ate like she was one of the guys, she never gained an ounce. There wasn't much meat on her bones, but what was there was artistically arranged.

Angela was one of the more likeable members of the group that was heading for Eclipse Island. She hadn't made any efforts to get into Rosalie's little clique. Just the opposite; she couldn't have cared less. Angela was pretty, athletic and headed for Washington University when she graduated next year, financially backed by a generous swimming scholarship. She didn't need to be a member of the in group in order to feel good about herself.

"We have more than enough," Jessica told her. "Unless Bella" – she looked at me slyly from beneath her thick eyelashes – "goes on one of her eating binges."

I'm thinner now than I used to be. I was never really fat, but I did trim down some recently. I never realized Jessica had ever noticed me before I started hanging out with Rosalie. I guess she had, and now she obviously was not about to let me forget my chubbier days.

I glared at her, and she smiled. When would I learn to smarten up and ignore her when she yanked my chain?

"Where are Edward and Mike?" Rosalie asked.

"They're locking up the cars and bringing in the rest of the gear," replied Emmett. "You know Edward. They guy needs to loosen his panties a bit. I told him we could leave some of the stuff out there overnight, but he's nervous about someone sneaking around in the dead of night and ripping us off."

"Well, we all know Edward has problems with his nerves," Jessica said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Rosalie and Jessica exchanged glances.

"Don't tell me you believed him when he said he went off for a couple of weeks last fall because his grandmother was sick and they thought he was going to die!" Rosalie said incredulously. "Honestly, Bella, I thought you were smarter than that."

"You mean that's not why he was gone?"

"Duh. His grandmother is as healthy as a horse."

"So where did he go?"

"Are you serious?" Rosalie asked. "You honestly don't know?"

"No. I mean, yes, I'm serious. I don't know."

"He'd been really depressed for weeks. You must have noticed."

"I really didn't know Edward very well then, Rosalie. We only had one class together.

_And I wasn't noticing much those awful days last fall. That was when Jake…died. Jake, my first, my best, my only friend. We'd just discovered we were more than friends, that we loved each other when….when it happened._

"Well, trust me, Bella," Rosalie was saying. "He'd gotten himself into this awful depression where he just kind of moped around all the time. It seriously got on my nerves."

Trust Rosalie to make it sound like such an inconvenience to her, I thought.

"Anyway," she continued. "It got to the point where his parents took him away to a hospital, where they gave him pills and treatment and stuff. He's pretty much okay now."

"We hope," Jessica said with a nasty laugh.

"But what was his problem?" I asked. "What was he depressed about?"

Rosalie suddenly became very busy sorting through the bags Emmett had piled up in the middle of the room.

"How would I know? That's his business, Bella, not mine."

Rosalie was hiding something. Something about Edward. Knowing Rose and her self-centred attitude toward other people's feelings, it was obvious she had been involved somehow in Edward's emotional breakdown. If she wasn't, she would have had no problem airing Edward's dirty laundry.

Mike Newton stuck his head through the door and called out, "Hey guys. If you're fooling around or smoking anything funny, you'd better cut it out. The Banner's van is coming up the drive."

We'd come in two cars – Rosalie and Emmett, Jessica and Mike in one, Angela, Edward and I in the other.

Mike was Jessica's boyfriend. He was athletic and popular, but not particularly smart. He couldn't be, not when he thought he was the luckiest guy on the planet to be sweet, sexy little Jessica's main man. And yes, there was just the slightest hint of sarcasm in that sentence.

"What I don't do for love," Mike said, with a mock leer in Jessica's direction. "Imagine, a whole week in Mr Banner's company."

"Yeah right, Mike," Angela said. "We all know why you've come on this trip. You're hoping to get Jessica alone in the deep, dark woods."

Jessica sniffed indignantly, but I could tell she was pleased. Mike might not be the most intelligent guy in Forks, but he was a jock, and there were, literally, dozens of girls at Fork's High just waiting to get their hands on him.

"What happened to Edward?" I asked Mike. "He's not planning to stand guard over the cars all night is he?"

Mike rolled his eyes and waggled a finger in my direction.

"Aha! Just as I suspected, Bella," he joked. "You're getting your freak on for Eddie-boy. Poor guy, he doesn't stand a chance now."

"Whatever, Mike," I said, turning away slightly to hide my growing blush. "Just because I asked a simple question, it doesn't mean I … that Edward and I are …"

"Of course not, Bella," Jessica put in silkily. "We all know perfectly well that you _aren't _or, shall I put it more bluntly, _haven't _with any guy, much less Edward Mason."

I thought of Jake, and how close we'd been. Jessica, in spite of all her bragging, would never know anything like that.

_If it's true that time heals all wounds, why do I still feel this terrible pain when I remember Jake?_

I wandered over to the grimy window and looked out.

Edward was on the top steps of the porch, talking animatedly with the Banners. He was extremely attractive, much more than Emmett and Mike I thought. He wasn't as muscular as they were but still had a gaggle of girls fighting over him at Fork's High.

I bit my bottom lip as I continued to watch him, slightly fascinated at the way the sun kept hitting his hair, making it shine like copper pennies. I wondered what it would feel like to run my fingers through it ….

As if he could sense me watching him, he suddenly stopped talking and, looking across to the window where I was stood, smiled and waved.

I awkwardly waved back, my cheeks ablaze with embarrassment.

I knew why Edward had come on this trip. He was eager to get some academic credits to make up for the time he'd lost by his absence last fall.

Mr Banner was head of the science department at Forks. Every spring break he took a small group of students on a camp-out to an island in a remote part of the state. The purpose of the expedition was to study the flora and fauna of the heavily wooded island, and Mr Banner was always generous in giving extra science credits to those making the trip with him. A week on Eclipse Island and a decent written report were enough to ensure a minimum grade of B- in science.

The reason the girls – Rosalie, Jessica and Angela – had come on the trip was the same as Edward's. Grades. And they had begged me to come with them – well, Rosalie and Angela had begged me – because science, along with English, are my strongest subjects, and they thought I could help them on the island and later with their reports.

"Please, Bella," Rosalie had urged. "I really have to go on this thing. If I screw up my grades and don't get accepted by any of the really _good _colleges, my parents will kill me."

"Please come, Bella," Angela had added. "All that swimming practice this semester hasn't left much time for homework. I might lose my scholarship if I don't maintain a high grade average. I can really use this extra credit."

Emmett and Mike's reason's for coming were more than a little obvious.

First, there was the excuse to be with Rosalie and Jessica day and night. The night part was what really intrigued them. And second, it sounded like their kind of fun. Canoeing down the river. Roughing it in the woods. Not having to shave, or even bathe. It was their idea of a real he-man holiday.

The trip, as explained to us earlier by Mr Banner, would begin with a long canoe ride down the river, then onto a smaller, narrower river, which in turn, would empty into Shadow Lake, a dark, cliff-rimmed lake in which Eclipse Island was situated in the centre.

A senior couple, Alice Brandon and Jasper Whitlock, who'd been on the trip the year before, told us, "The island's pretty bleak. Very spooky. There's an old abandoned cabin there that you'll be staying in. it used to be a hunting lodge ages ago. You'll be roughing it, all right. Believe us, you'll earn every single credit Mr Banner gives you!"

And so here we were, at the jumping-off point for the trip: a hostel at the head of the river, where we'd spend the night before we started out early the next morning.

Alice and Jasper had warned us we'd be roughing it.

It was rough, all right.

It was a killer.

**Please review. x**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you to all my readers.**

**Chapter three**

That night we all drove to the nearest town for pizza. I knew we would. Rosalie was a pizza junkie, and the others always did what Rosalie wanted. Naturally.

The Banners stayed behind at the hostel.

"Don't you worry about u now," Mrs Banner had said in her fussy, prissy voice. "You go out and enjoy those pizzas. You'll be eating nothing but camp cooking all next week."

Someone had told me Mrs Banner's father had been a headmaster in an old-fashioned English-style prep school. Some of the school's formality must have rubbed off on Mrs Banner. She wasn't that much older than my mother, but she seemed positively ancient. Her old fashioned ways were the joke of the school, although I privately thought she was pretty nice.

Mrs Banner was a frail, thin little woman in contrast to her husband, an outdoorsy, barrel-chested man. It was rumoured he spent his weekends hiking nature trails, binoculars in hand, in search of some rarely sighted bird. Emmett said he saw him once in a park with a butterfly net, running after a particularly choice specimen. He said Mr Banner looked exactly like one of the dancing elephants in Fantasia.

I wandered into the kitchen while Rosalie and Jessica were primping for their hot night on the town.

The kitchen, like the rest of the hostel, was cold and barren. Mrs Banner taught home ec and was always giving us lectures on her ideas of right living – like avoiding alcohol and watching out for tea and coffee and not eating fatty, sugary things.

"And so," she always concluded, "no alcoholic happy hours for us. We have high-fiber bran wafers and artificially sweetened cocoa instead. Very relaxing, and it removes that terrible urge to _stuff_ at supper."

Mr Banner must be a closet stuffer, I often thought. Something – and it definitely wasn't high-fiber bran wafers – was giving him a real Santa Claus waist.

Mrs Banner looked up and smiled as I joined her at the rusty antique stove. I peered down at the milk, which was just coming to a boil.

"May I do something, Mrs Banner?" I asked. "I'm just hanging around, waiting for everyone else to get ready."

"Why thank you dear," Mrs Banner said brightly. "How nice to see good manners in a young person these days. If you'll finish making the cocoa for me, I'll get out the bran wafers."

Bran wafers. Some happy hour.

"I do hope, dear, you realise that living conditions on the island are, well, quite primitive," she said, her back to me as she set the wafers on a plate. She'd even brought paper doilies with her. "But, as they say, _c'est la vie_. I'm married to a dedicated scientist, so I'm prepared to sacrifice comfort for the pursuit of knowledge. I hope you will be similarly motivated this coming week."

I promised her I would and managed to give her the impression that nothing – I mean _nothing_ – was too much to suffer for the sake of my education.

When we left for the pizza parlor, the Banners were sitting before a roaring fire in the lounge, sipping their cocoa. They looked cosy and content.

* * *

><p>I sat next to Edward at the Pizza Oven.<p>

I'd known him slightly back in the days when I was a 'nerd' with my thick glasses, floppy, unflattering clothes, pocket protector, and membership in the English Honor Society.

He'd been nice to me then, even though I'd been a campus nobody at the time, and I liked him for it.

Edward was good-looking, but not in the big-jock style of Mike and Emmett. Edward's face was quite angular with high cheekbones, a strong jawline, straight nose and full lips. Although he had muscles in all the right places, he was slender and lean, with a narrow waist that made his broad shoulders seem even broader.

He had grown up with Emmett and Mike, and the boys seemed to respect him for his intelligence and common sense. He didn't act as though he had a big head because he moved in the highest circles of Forks High. Just the opposite. He seemed almost a little embarrassed about it. I'd noticed that back in the days when I was a social nobody.

The booths in the Pizza Oven were rickety and horseshoe-shaped. We were packed in knee to knee.

Edward's thigh was pressed against mine. He wasn't doing it deliberately. There was nothing intimate about it. So why was I so aware of the warmth of his body, and why did I feel all silly and romantic about it?

No, I reminded myself, I mustn't get involved with Edward. Not now. It wouldn't be loyal to my memories of Jake.

"Look at that guy over there, Rose," Jessica said, a string of cheese trailing from her mouth to a slice of pizza. "Doesn't he remind you a little of that geek who had a crush on you last fall?"

We all looked.

A boy our age was sitting at a table by the door. He was dark-haired, wore black glasses and had deep russet skin.

"Yeah. A little," Rosalie said. "What was his name? I can't remember."

"I think it was Jacob," Jessica said.

"Jacob Black?" I asked. My voice was clear and steady but under the table, my fists were clenched. "Are you talking about Jacob Black?"

"Yeah, that was his name. You knew him?" Rosalie sounded surprised. I think she forgot sometimes that I hadn't always hung out with her.

"Yes," I said. "I knew him. He was my friend."

_And he did not have a crush on Rosalie. Not really. I was the one he loved. He just admired her looks a little, that's all. Doesn't everyone?_

"Well, of course he was your friend, Bella," Jessica drawled. "Maybe the others don't remember you in your previous incarnation as a proper little bookworm, but I do. And I'll just bet you were the friend and defender of every geek and freakazoid at Forks."

She made it sound like an insult. Anyone who was friendly to what she called a 'geek' was a real loser to Jessica.

"Jacob wasn't a geek," I said quickly. "He was smart, something you'll never understand, Jessica."

She smiled. I hated that smile. It was so smug and superior.

"That's right," she said. "Smart enough to drive off a cliff one night when he'd been drinking like a fish. Brilliant. Just brilliant."

Oh Jake. What a waste. Why did you do it, Jacob?

"I'm another one who remembers Bella when she was a 'proper little bookworm'," Edward put in. he was trying to smooth over what was turning into an awkward situation with me glaring at Jessica and her smiling like a malicious Mona Lisa. "And I thought she looked pretty cute in that ponytail and those horn-rimmed glasses. By the way, what did you do with those glasses, Bella? I kind of miss them."

I flashed Edward a grateful smile. "They're in my bedside table drawer. I wear contact now."

Jessica started to open her mouth, but Edward cut her off.

"So –" he asked. "What time are we supposed to leave tomorrow?"

"I'm not leaving before the sun comes up," Rosalie said. "I'm definitely _not _a morning person."

Emmett put his arm around her and drew her to him. "No, you're definitely at your best at night, Rosie. And I'm real glad you are."

Rosalie blushed. She was probably remembering what they'd been doing the night before up at Twilight Point.

Emmett gave her a knowing smile before he turned to Edward and said, "I think we should leave around eight tomorrow morning. That should be early enough. Right after breakfast."

"I hope you don't expect us girls to do the cooking like faithful little wives. This is an equal-opportunity trip, you know." Rosalie pouted prettily. Emmett bent forward and kissed her on the tip of her perfect little nose.

"Coffee and juice is enough for me," Mike said. "I'm make the coffee if Jessica will keep me company in the kitchen."

He gazed at her, moony-eyed. I couldn't figure out how any guy – even Mike, who was hardly a student of human nature – could be fooled by someone like Jessica. Which just goes to show you that life is definitely _not _fair.

"I think we brought cold cereal," I said before he made an even bigger fool of himself than he usually did around Jessica. "And fruit. Oh, and yoghurt. That's a pretty good breakfast, don't you think?"

"Trust you, Bella, to have the food situation all figured out," Jessica said with a musical laugh. "Personally, I couldn't care less. I never eat breakfast."

Was she ever going to stop picking at me because, once upon a time, I'd been a hearty eater?

"Then I really hope you're not in my canoe," I said. "I'm not doing your share of the paddling because you're weak with hunger. If you've got to diet, do it another time."

That hit her where it really hurt. Jessica was always on a diet.

Angela snickered. She was sitting on the other side of Edward and had been pretty quiet up until now. Angela never said much, but when she did, it was always something sensible.

"Don't worry Bella," she said. "I've worked out the travel arrangements, and Jessica won't be in your canoe."

She turned to Edward and continued, "Since Bella and I came in your car, Edward, I figured we'd probably go in your canoe, too. The three of us make a pretty good team. Emmett and Rosalie can go in the second canoe. They'll be carrying most of the food with them, since Emmett is the strongest and most experienced canoeist. Mike and Jessica can travel together, and the Banners will be out front, leading the way in their own canoe."

"Great!" Mike agreed enthusiastically. "And when we get to the island, I hope you guys will give Jessica and me a little space, if you know what I mean?"

Angela and Edward exchanged an amused glance.

Lately I'd begun to suspect that Angela had a secret crush on Edward. He didn't seem to return the interest, though. Maybe he didn't realise how she felt about him. Edward treated Angela the way he did everyone else – friendly, like a pal. A lot of girls assumed he was flirting with them, but he wasn't. That's just the way he was. Friendly.

"I've got this theory about Edward," Rosalie had told me recently. "He's one of those late-bloomer types. You know, the kind of guy who takes his time finding a girl who will turn him on. But I think he's just about due to meet someone who's going to knock his socks off."

Well, it was an interesting theory all right, and if anyone could speak with authority about love and romance, it was Rosalie Hale.

* * *

><p>We drove backs to the hostel in the Banner's blue minivan, which they'd lent us for the evening.<p>

As we came down the last half mile of road, we saw that a police roadblock had been erected: a wooden barricade flanked by a pair of police cars, their red lights flashing.

Emmett rolled down the window on the driver's side of the van and stuck his head out.

"What's up, officer?"

Two policemen came over to the van, one on each side, and played the beams of their flashlights over all of us.

Mike and Jessica straightened up hastily in the backseat. I saw Jessica try to pat her hair back in place and I rolled my eyes.

"We're staying at the hostel down the road," Edward said. "Has there been any trouble?"

The policeman at the driver's window pushed his hat back on his head and replied, "No, not exactly. We are looking for someone though. You kids didn't happen to see an old guy in a red flannel shirt and khaki pants walking along the road, did you?"

"No," Emmett said. "Has he committed some crime?"

"Not unless you consider being crazy a crime. His name's Aro Volturi, and he used to live around here. He grew up on this river."

"He _used _to live here?" I heard myself asking.

"Yeah, until his relatives had him certified as insane and committed to the state mental hospital. That was a few years ago, and now Aro has gone and busted out of the hospital. We figure he's headed this way. This area is the only home he knows, and the doctors said he was always talking about coming back."

"Oh great," Rosalie moaned. "That's all we need – a nutball roaming around. Is he dangerous?"

The policeman scratched his head. "He never used to be. But he did get carried away there, just before he escaped."

"Carried away?" Rosalie, queen bee, had assumed control. "What do you mean, _carried away_?"

"Well, he took a knife to a guy who worked with him. Aro had been given a trustee job in the kitchen. Everyone thought he was better. I guess he'd fooled them."

"Did he kill the guy in the kitchen?" Emmett asked.

"Yeah, and he did a mighty fine job of it too."

"Oh, God," Rosalie said. "We're going to die! We're all going to get killed by some psycho!"

"Now, now miss," the policeman said soothingly. "It's not as bad as it sounds. That fella in the kitchen really provoked Aro. He asked for it, from what we hear. Aro isn't bad. Just a little er…excitable."

"Marvellous," Rosalie said sarcastically. "That makes everything okay. I should have known. We're in the country, and this is what passes for local entertainment."

I was hanging over the front seat. I saw Emmett elbow Rosalie in an effort to make her shut up. For once she took the hint.

Edward leaned forward. He was sitting beside me in the middle row of the van. "We'll be sure to call you if we spot him, Officer," he said politely. I could tell he was trying to make up for Rosalie's rudeness. "Is there anything special we should do if we see him?"

"Don't try to be heroes or anything," the policeman replied. "Don't try to apprehend him. Humour him along if you meet him face-to-face. Then get to a phone and call us. We know how to handle old Aro."

The police removed the barricades and motioned us through.

"I can see," Jessica groaned as we resumed speed, "that I'm really going to earn these extra credits. What if this Aro creature is lurking around the hostel?"

"Don't worry, Jessica. I'll defend you," Mike said happily.

"He's probably miles from here," Angela said. "After being cooped up in a hospital all those year, I'm sure being around a bunch of teenagers is the last thing he wants."

"Well, I, for one, am not going to worry about it," I declared. "I'm sure we're perfectly safe, and besides, we're leaving tomorrow morning for Eclipse Island. I'm going to get a good night's sleep."

But I didn't. I'd wake up every now and then and wonder about Aro Volturi. What was it like to be locked up in an institution for years and years? Edward had been in a hospital when he'd been treated for depression. Did he have any idea how Aro felt? And how _did _Aro feel now? Was he simply happy to be free, or wandering the area, bent on some twisted revenge?

**Please, please take the time to let me know what you think. Thank you. xxx**


End file.
